An excerpt from Chapter One, Red Lioness Tamed, Liquid Silver Books, my Big Beautiful Kitties, just for you. For the entire first chapter visit Liquid Silver and click excerpt."Frax! My brain feels like it’s been spun out of cobwebs," Sun Rocket muttered. She squeezed her eyelids open and shut several times, shifting slightly on the hard metallic surface. Expelling a breath, she attempted to open her eyes. "Frax it to the sun! More cobwebs," she angrily complained.
Pressing her hand over her eyes, she sniffed carefully. Sterile, her surroundings, except for harmless micro dust--except for her--about half a day away from a bath or a good tongue licking. Experimentally she shoved with her foot. Half her usual body weight. She was probably inside some cargo hold, orbiting or...
Sun Rocket shot up to a sitting position. Her head spun at some undefined warp speed. Blinking rapidly, she forced one eye to remain open, seeing ubiquitous gray cargo containers randomly stacked around her. "How the friggin’ frax...?"
She fought to stand upright, assisted by the lessened gravity, and crashed into a tall stack of empty containers. Stumbling into more containers, she kicked at them, managing to knock them out of her way while her head whirled like a new-forming galaxy.
"Not like there’s going to be a port window in here," she muttered derisively. Both eyes open now, she watched the wall circle before her impaired vision like a dimensional portal.
Steadier and steadier on her feet, her brain cobwebs clearing, she automatically reached for her left flank phase pistol. Gone! "Dang the villain! Of course!" she reminded herself. All her weapons would have been stripped during transport into the cargo hold by the beam.
What cargo hold?
Frustrated, wild, she lashed out at the nearest containers with her combat-trained feet--scattering them, semi-floating them away from her. Spying a dark, glass-looking monitor at the top of the hold, Sun Rocket shoved the nearest containers beneath it. Rapidly she threw containers together like a tower. Heedlessly she leapt up the huge makeshift steps, leaned her palms against the wall. She stood on her tiptoes, trying to examine the convex reddish monitor--not a type she knew.
"Get down from there!" a highly irritated male voice commanded in third galactic vernacular.
Wobbling precariously, Sun Rocket knelt on one knee. "Not like I can’t land on my feet like a cat," she murmured, amused for an instant. Gazing down toward the voice’s origin, she saw the fierce male’s flowing locks, well past his shoulders--dark red amber. The humanoid-appearing male glared up at her, hands planted on his hips like a holo-romance buccaneer. From her view, the rest of him could be compared favorably to a lean, yet beautifully muscled hero. Even his garments--a style unknown to her in her far-flung galactic travels tracking down, taking in or eliminating cat shifters who had gone bad--even his garments were reminiscent of swashbuckling ancient Earth.
"Who are you?" she called down to him, resting on her haunches. It was her good luck moon, she was still in human form. Not every galactic race "appreciated" feline shifters. To put it tuna-fish mildly.
"This is my vessel. Get down now!"
Sun Rocket was surprised smoke didn’t billow forth from his ears and his mouth. If he’d been a dragon shifter--well, she could be coughing out lungfuls of nasty smoke.
"You failed to answer my question," she flung down to him, tensed herself to do battle.
Ominously he pressed his belt, eliminating the gravity field. Her tower of containers floated, as she now floated, helpless. The next moment she fell downward, the gravity restored. Forcing herself not to shift, and land on her four cat paws, Sun Rocket twisted to land in a roll.
Pressing her hand over her eyes, she sniffed carefully. Sterile, her surroundings, except for harmless micro dust--except for her--about half a day away from a bath or a good tongue licking. Experimentally she shoved with her foot. Half her usual body weight. She was probably inside some cargo hold, orbiting or...
Sun Rocket shot up to a sitting position. Her head spun at some undefined warp speed. Blinking rapidly, she forced one eye to remain open, seeing ubiquitous gray cargo containers randomly stacked around her. "How the friggin’ frax...?"
She fought to stand upright, assisted by the lessened gravity, and crashed into a tall stack of empty containers. Stumbling into more containers, she kicked at them, managing to knock them out of her way while her head whirled like a new-forming galaxy.
"Not like there’s going to be a port window in here," she muttered derisively. Both eyes open now, she watched the wall circle before her impaired vision like a dimensional portal.
Steadier and steadier on her feet, her brain cobwebs clearing, she automatically reached for her left flank phase pistol. Gone! "Dang the villain! Of course!" she reminded herself. All her weapons would have been stripped during transport into the cargo hold by the beam.
What cargo hold?
Frustrated, wild, she lashed out at the nearest containers with her combat-trained feet--scattering them, semi-floating them away from her. Spying a dark, glass-looking monitor at the top of the hold, Sun Rocket shoved the nearest containers beneath it. Rapidly she threw containers together like a tower. Heedlessly she leapt up the huge makeshift steps, leaned her palms against the wall. She stood on her tiptoes, trying to examine the convex reddish monitor--not a type she knew.
"Get down from there!" a highly irritated male voice commanded in third galactic vernacular.
Wobbling precariously, Sun Rocket knelt on one knee. "Not like I can’t land on my feet like a cat," she murmured, amused for an instant. Gazing down toward the voice’s origin, she saw the fierce male’s flowing locks, well past his shoulders--dark red amber. The humanoid-appearing male glared up at her, hands planted on his hips like a holo-romance buccaneer. From her view, the rest of him could be compared favorably to a lean, yet beautifully muscled hero. Even his garments--a style unknown to her in her far-flung galactic travels tracking down, taking in or eliminating cat shifters who had gone bad--even his garments were reminiscent of swashbuckling ancient Earth.
"Who are you?" she called down to him, resting on her haunches. It was her good luck moon, she was still in human form. Not every galactic race "appreciated" feline shifters. To put it tuna-fish mildly.
"This is my vessel. Get down now!"
Sun Rocket was surprised smoke didn’t billow forth from his ears and his mouth. If he’d been a dragon shifter--well, she could be coughing out lungfuls of nasty smoke.
"You failed to answer my question," she flung down to him, tensed herself to do battle.
Ominously he pressed his belt, eliminating the gravity field. Her tower of containers floated, as she now floated, helpless. The next moment she fell downward, the gravity restored. Forcing herself not to shift, and land on her four cat paws, Sun Rocket twisted to land in a roll.
March Madness Explosion! Big Cats! Today is Red Lioness Launch day at Liquid Silver Books. And! Ta Da! the American Title IV winner was revealed. Shush-meow, our mouths are duck-taped shut. No one must know the winner. Or it's loose the lions of hell against the snitch. Yowl-ouch! Watch those ripping claws, will ya? Moi has not purred a single letter of the winner's name. No, not a rumbling sniffle. For, that sacred honor belongs to Romantic Times and Dorchester. Paws off! King of the beasts...unless...a flirting Kougar rub...
Huge Kougar-smiling congratulations to the winner!
And for the rest of us, success is pounding on the door, demanding a swift entrance. The Kougaress yowling-declares. And knows.
2012, Doomsday, the end of the Mayan calender -- is pounding at the door, having been granted the favor of mass media attention recently. Timing and synchronicity for moi's 2012 love story, When a Good Angel Falls.
Today, on the prairie winter temps return like the March lion pouncing on the lamb spring temps of yesterday. Window-open warmth, until the rains slashed in, drenching the tame resting prairie. And the full afternoon pond shines so mirror-intensely, the light is entrancing, a pure experience of mystical beauty. Wondrous to the Kougar's eye.
Blue skies glow between the passing end-of-the storm clouds...Moi does a few shivers...what if the reviews are receiving All Shades of Blue Paradise?
Lovely Big Cats stroll on over to Title Magic. Holli blogs about how some of use our favorite reads as delayed gratification. A thought not rolled around in the Kougaress's brain until Holli's blog. Meow below:
Holli, I'm the queen of delayed gratification in a lot of ways, but not with books.
My Grandmother kept a room-full of books. And mom is the same way, my dad was too. So, it must be genetic!
My Grandmother kept a room-full of books. And mom is the same way, my dad was too. So, it must be genetic!
Day of the Red Lioness on Title Magic blog, the release date announcement.
Anitra, thanks for the bubbly. That's the look I was going for, much to the consternation of Liquid Silver's head graphic artist, an absolute sweetheart.
Evonne, I have to use that 'unleashing the lioness'. It's too good!
Thanks, Holli, 'roaringly hot'. Yep, that goes on the list too.Mel, hope you like it. You can check out the first chapter by clicking the excerpt button.
Kisses to the all the winners from the Kougar...
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